Google Glass By Apple? Patent Shows an Apple-Made Glasses Rival Could Be in The Works

Jason Gilbert, The Huffington Post

Friday, 6 Jul 2012 | 5:02 PM ETThe Huffington Post

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David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Google Inc employee Ray Liu, wears Project Glass internet glasses during a demonstration during at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, California.

Let's call them "iGlasses."

The U.S. Patent Office published a patent on Tuesday revealing that Apple has experimented with producing a set of augmented-reality eyeglasses, sparking speculation that Apple will go head-to-head (and eye-to-eye) with Google's much-hyped Glass device.

Like Google Glass, the device in Apple's patent is head-mounted and flashes information on a small LED display that sits in front of and above the wearer's eyes; unlike Google Glass, whose prototype contains a display only in front of the wearer's right eye, Apple's patent calls for displays in front of both eyes.

In its patent filing, Apple does not delve too deeply into what its heads-up display (HUD) device would actually be able to do; the patent simply covers the method by which Apple would project images onto a display in front of the eye. The patent does mention connectivity to an external device with a 16:9 aspect ratio, which conspiracy theorists will note is supposedly the aspect ratio for the next iPhone. Again, however, this patent was filed in 2006: Apple presumably meant, more generally, that its head-mounted displays would be able to project the images of a connected device, like a smartphone or television.

Just as Google and Apple currently find themselves at war in the smartphone and tablet aisles, so too could they be fighting for supremacy in the wearable computer department.

The granted patent does not cite or mention Google or Googiphle Glass (again, since it was filed in 2006) but, because of the huge amount of public interest in and debate about Google's glasses, Apple's head-mounted device filing is largely being viewed as a potential counter move, should Google Glass turn out to be popular. (The headline of the Wired article concerning this patent: "Take That, Google Glass").